The Scaled Approach and YRO: quality assurance work

Quality data and information:The management role

Data – content and quality

Why are data important?

● Data are the building blocks of information

● Information informs decision-making

● Decision-making impacts lives and services

Therefore

● Data must be complete, accurate and timely

Data and the Scaled Approach and YRO

Key data that tell you about the effectiveness of the Scaled Approach

Asset and Asset -

Risk of Serious

Harm

● Completeness

● Quality

● Management oversight

Reports ● Quality

● Congruence between sentence proposals and outcomes

Plans ● Quality

● Implementation

● Review

Disproportionality ● Any discriminatory effects (for example greater proportion

of girls assessed as needing intensive level of intervention)

Feedback ● From young people, parents and carers

● From other key stakeholders

The renewed focus on quality assurance

The situation now…

Number of contacts

Nature of intervention

SentenceRepresents offence

seriousness and proportionality

Asset andAsset – Risk

of Serious Harm

What will change with the Scaled Approach…

Number of contacts

Nature of intervention

SentenceRepresents offence

seriousness and proportionality

Asset andAsset – Risk

of Serious Harm

What does this mean?

YOT assessments will have a much greater impact upon the level and nature of

intervention than previously

Consequent responsibility to ensure the quality of assessments, reports and plans

Quality Assurance principles

Quality assurance

This section covers:

● The three components of quality assurance

● Responsibilities for quality assurance

● When quality assurance should be used

● What additional quality assurance is needed for the Scaled Approach and the YRO:

Asset

reports

intervention plans

● Tools for local adaptation

● Quality assurance pitfalls to avoid

What is quality assurance?

Testing products and outputs (for example reports and assessments)

Measuring effectiveness of products and outputs

Analysing themes and driving continual improvement

Testing products and outputs

This process seeks to measure the document itself

Ensure

completeness

● Basic personal data, e.g. ethnicity / age

● All relevant fields completed

Ensure timeliness

(or process)

● Asset completed before reports

● Asset – Risk of Serious Harm completed where required

● National standards adhered to

● Management countersignatures where necessary

● Case transfer and closure process

Ensure accuracy

(or quality)

● Young people define their ethnicity

● Range of sources consulted

● Quality of assessments, reports and plans

Measuring effectiveness of products and outputs

This measures the effectiveness of the document

Asset and

Asset – Risk of

Serious Harm

● Disproportionality rates

● Feedback from young people and stakeholders

● Feedback from YOT risk management forums

Reports ● Congruence rates (including disproportionality)

● Sentencer confidence

● Feedback from young people

● Feedback from other stakeholders

Plans ● Achievement of planned interventions

● Feedback from young people and stakeholders

Analysing themes and driving continual improvement

Collation, analysis and application of learning of the data gathered:

Individual and

service training

needs analysis

● Asset, reports and planning quality information

● Collated lessons from staff supervision

● Feedback from young people and stakeholders

Performance

reporting

● Asset, reports and planning quality information

● Feedback from young people and stakeholders

Stakeholder

engagement

● Feedback from young people and stakeholders

Service

improvement

plans

● Asset, reports and planning quality information

● Collated lessons from staff supervision

●Feedback from young people and stakeholders

Whose job is quality assurance?

Practitioners and admin

Peers and Senior practitioners

Operational managers

Service andperformance managers

Individual QACompleteness and quality

GatekeepingCompleteness and quality

Collation and analysisService and individual improvement

Dip samplingCompleteness and qualityThemes and issues

When should quality assurance be used?

As often as necessary!

Based on:• How important the product is• Who the audience is• What the quality is currently• The resources required to measure quality

What are the implications for my YOT’s quality assurance tools used with the Scaled Approach and the YRO?

Asset – suggested areas for quality assurance

The Scaled Approach renews focus on the importance of Asset so will

require quality assurance of:

The range and quality of sources of information including the views of the

young person

How well the dynamic factors are evidenced and scored

Whether the static factors are correct

The quality of vulnerability management plans and risk management plans

Any disproportionality in relation to scoring or quality of content

How well safeguarding needs have been evidenced and analysed

Whether professional over-ride has been used to alter levels of intervention

Whether management oversight and sign off has been used appropriately

Regular review

Reports – suggested areas for quality assurance

Reports will draw on the evidence base from Asset so pay attention to:

Whether the quality controller has seen the Asset and Asset – Risk of

Serious Harm

Whether Asset and Asset – Risk of Serious Harm have been completed and

quality assured

The level of analysis (as opposed to description)

Whether the likelihood of reoffending is clear and unambiguous

Whether the risk of serious harm is clear and unambiguous (where relevant)

Whether there is a clear link between assessed risks and the level of

intervention

Whether there is a clear link between assessed risks and needs and the

report proposal

Plans – suggested areas for quality assurance

Plans will need to link directly with identified risks and needs contained

in Asset so pay attention to:

The quality of interventions to address identified likelihood of reoffending

including barriers to engagement

The quality of interventions to address identified risk of serious harm (if

relevant) including barriers to engagement

The quality of interventions to address identified welfare or safeguarding

needs including barriers to engagement

Whether statutory and non-statutory contacts are clearly explained

Whether the young person and their parents or carers have contributed to

and signed the plan

Quality assurance pitfalls

● Quality checking your own reports and assessments and plans

● Quality check by “non-critical friend”

● Lack of key information (for example no Asset with reports)

● “We’re too busy”

● Managers do not “interrogate” systems (for example dip sampling)

● Managers do not provide regular support and supervision

● Quality assurance goes nowhere and feeds nothing

Possible next steps

What do managers need to do?

● Provide unambiguous guidance around YOT recording practice

● Maintain an improvement approach and overview of Asset quality

● Recommend key actions to management team to maintain or improve performance

● Agree how information and changes are communicated to staff

● Report to management team at agreed intervals on issues that support or impede progress

● Monitor the impact of agreed changes

● Provide information and data to support communications with partners and the court

● Ensure line manager/superviser is kept appraised of all activity in this area including workload implications